'The Wrestler' close to my real life: Rourke

London, Jan 7 (IANS) Actor Mickey Rourke, who for years was in obscurity after a promising start, makes a comeback with his latest movie "The Wrestler" and says he could connect with the character because it was close to his real life.

Thesun.co.uk reports that Rourke had a promising start with hits like "Angel Heart" and "Nine 1/2 Weeks" in the 1980s, but his difficult behaviour almost ruined his career. But his portrayal as Randy 'The Ram' Robinson in "The Wrestler" might earn him his first Oscar trophy.

He said: "Randy is a wrestler at the twilight of his career. Rather he has been at the twilight of his career for several years. He thinks he has one more game in him - one more shot. He wants to come back again. I know what that's like. Randy was somebody 20 years ago and so was Mickey Rourke."

He added: "When you used to be a somebody and you aren't anybody any more, you live in what my doctor calls a state of shame. It's when you had a career, then you mess up and you don't have a career any more - and it's all your fault. Hollywood is a very unforgiving place. I took a nosedive down all by myself, no one pushed me. I was on the bench for 13 years. Time goes by and you start to think: 'Man, is it really over like everyone says it is?'

"And I was in LA - where you are reminded every day of it. You'll be buying cigarettes at two in the morning and there will be a line of five or six people and some jerk is going to go: 'Hey didn't you used to be in the movies? What happened to you? How come you don't work any more?' I heard it 24/7. I did nothing. I went to the gym, I did small parts in crappy movies. For a period of time I didn't even have an agent.'"

Rourke had to sell his motorcycle collection to keep himself going.

"I had a motorcycle collection and I sold all my motorcycles. Then I had a friend, who was a successful hairdresser, and he'd give me a couple of hundred bucks a week to keep me going."

Click the Movie button below for more info:
The Wrestler